Katju faces ire of PCI members

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February 18, 2013

23:13Katju faces ire of PCI members: Markandey Katju today faced a stormy session in the Press Council of India meeting when members of the body forced him to defer adoption of reports on the Faizabad riots and the alleged muffling of media in Bihar.

Sources said Katju faced opposition from PCI members when he suggested that a report by a team sent by him to look into the reasons for the recent riots in Faizabad be adopted by them.

Some members also insisted that this issue does not fall within the domain of the Press Council of India. They said the report should confine itself to the role of the media in the reporting of the riots.

Some members also maintained that not just the Faizabad riots but other such events of the recent past should also be included in the report.

The sanctions expand those approved by the U.N. Security Council in January, adding measures preventing trading in North Korean governmentbonds, gold, precious metals, and diamonds, EU diplomats said.

"We have pushed for enhancing the sanctions. This is the answer to a nuclear programme which endangers not only the region but the whole security architecture worldwide," Germany's Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said during a meeting with his EU counterparts in Brussels.

21:26Ailing Hugo Chavez makes theatrical return to Venezuela: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez made a theatrical return to Venezuela on Monday after 70 days recuperating in Cuba following cancer surgery, a long absence that had generated suspicion about who had been running the government.

20:56Palestinians rally for prisoners held in Israel: Palestinians blocked roads and held marches across the West Bank on Monday to protest the fate of thousands of their countrymen held in Israeli jails and demand the release of four detainees on hunger strike.

The hunger strikers include Samer Issawi, 35, whose health has severely deteriorated after staging an on-again, off-again strike for more than 200 days. The men were all in stable condition, said a spokeswoman for Israel's prison authority, Sivan Weizman.

20:34Modi to address BJP rally in Mumbai on March 17: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will address a party rally here on March 17, first time after he was voted to power for the third successive time in the Assembly elections held last year.

The rally, where party president Rajnath Singh will also be present, will be held at Somaiya ground at Sion in Central Mumbai, party sources said today.

Cases of gang rape are rare in the Islamist-run state. Six minors who also abused the girl were sentenced to 10 years each in a reformatory, Judge Ahmed Khalil Albahar ruled, according to the lawyer Salma Mohammedahmed Hamed. "He found them guilty by the evidence he received of raping a child," the lawyer told AFP.

India today said it was "little premature" to assume that the beheading of an Indian soldier by Pakistan Army was the end of the unfortunate incident, but asserted efforts were on ensure that bilateral ties are not affected due to such incidents.

"Difficult to say that. I think we have been working on it and I think many bilateral processes are in operation which is what we really wanted no matter how bad is an incident is, we should not give a go-by to the bilateral processes by which we try to handle every crisis.

"But to say that this is the end of the really unfortunate incident will be a little premature for me. Let's us wait for the outcomes that will come in the due course," he said. The minister was responding to a question on whether the beheading incident was "behind us".

The Rajasthan government has set up five special courts for speedy trial in cases related to sexual harassment and dowry. The courts have been set up in Ajmer, Bharatpur, Bikaner, Udaipur and Jodhpur, an official release said in Jaipur today.

Cases related with harassment, dowry and others will be heard in the courts, the release said.

A group of Class 12 examinees today clashed with police, pelted stones on an examination centre and torched several vehicles, injuring eight policemen in Bihar's Sheikhpura district.

The police fired several rounds in the air to restore order after the examinees at the Islamia College threw stones and engaged in a clash with the law-enforcers to protest against expulsion of some students for cheating.

Eight policemen, including Sheikhpura police station in-charge Rajendra Singh, were injured in the clash, Sub-Divisional Magistrate Manzoor Ali said. The injured cops have been admitted to a hospital for treatment, the SDM said.

Earlier in the day, the authorities had expelled 64 examinees appearing in the examination for cheating, he said.

Separatist outfits today gave a call for a shutdown in Kashmir Valley on Friday to protest hanging of Parliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru. Hurriyat hawk Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who is under house arrest in Delhi, issued a protest schedule for this week.

"There is no alternative for us but to come out on the streets in protest against the decision (to hang Guru)", said the chairman of the hardline faction of the Hurriyat.

In a statement issued by his amalgam in Srinagar, Geelani said civil curfew would be observed on Wednesday and Thursday. A shutdown would be observed after Friday prayers which would be followed by peaceful protests across the Valley, he said.

The future course of action would be announced on Friday, Geelani said. Moderate Hurriyat Conference, headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, and JKLF had also given a call for a shutdown on Friday.

18:19 Katju's article: All the perfumes of Arabia, that has got the BJP's goat. Read

18:17Katju: Didn't write article on Modi as PCI chief : Justice Markandey Katju speaking to CNN IBN says he has a right to speak on Narendra Modi as a citizen of India, and did not write the article criticising the Gujarat Chief minister in his capacity as the Press Council of India chairman. He says he has criticised the Congress on several occasions as well. "I have the right to speak on something of extreme importance," said Katju.

Maldivian President Mohamed Waheed has accused his predecessor Mohamed Nasheed of "instigating" street protests by taking refuge in the Indian High Commission here, as he promised "free, fair and inclusive" multi-party election in the country in September. Waheed said his government will do the utmost to promote democracy in the country.

17:52Same-day visa for Indian biz, no cap on students: UK PM: Out to woo Indian businesses and students, British Prime Minister David Cameron today announced his country would introduce same-day visa services for investors and said there would be no limit on the number of students from here studying there.

"We have the biggest visa operations anywhere else in the world right here in India. I announce that we are going to introduce for businesses a same-day visa service to those who want to come to our country and invest...," Cameron told India Inc.

17:27Karunanidhi wants death penalty abolished : Just in: DMK chief M Karunanidhi has said that the death penalty should be abolished. This comes in the wake of this: Three people given the death penalty for the assassination of former Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi, have asked the Supreme Court to commute their
sentence to life in prison because it took 11 years for their mercy
petition to be rejected.

But this spells very good news for agriculture, with analysts saying India may see a bumper wheat crop as a result of this, even as the rest of the world is grappling with shortages. Read (And they they will be left to rot in the open)

17:10Trade unions snub PM, firm on Wed, Thu strike : The central trade unions today remained firm on their call for a two-day strike despite an appeal from the Prime Minister even as they were set to meet senior Union Ministers tonight on his assurance of looking into their demands. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had made an appeal yesterday to all the 11 trade unions to withdraw their call for a nation-wide strike from February 20, saying that it would cause loss to the economy and inconvenience to general public.

17:07Katju returns the compliment: Jaitley should resign: Under attack from BJP, Press Council chief Markandey Katju today accused opposition leader Arun Jaitley of making "reckless" allegations by twisting facts and said he should take "sanyas" from politics.

Sticking to his remarks on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi which had drawn him Jaitley's ire, Katju, a former Supreme Court judge, said, "Mr Arun Jaitley has demanded my resignation, I demand Mr Arun Jaitley's resignation." "He has made reckless remarks against me, called me a megalomaniac and all kinds of most derogatory language he has used. It was most unbefitting of a person who claims to be of his stature.

So, in fact, he should resign and take 'sanyas' (retirement). He is not fit to be in politics," he told reporters here after the BJP demanded his sacking for his "political" remarks.

17:01Tagore's Argentine muse returns gifts : Visva-Bharati today received Tagore memorabilia that was in possession of writer Victoria Ocampo, including gifts the bard gave to his Argentine muse.The 11 items include Tagore's spectacles that he gifted to Ocampo, records of the poet's rendition of his own work and books autographed by Tagore.The articles will be displayed in the Rabindra Bhavana museum at Visva-Bharati. Read

16:12
Also read: 'Lots' of evidence against former air chief Tyagi: Italian prosecution

16:12Chopper scam: Finmeccanica ex-CEO may get bail :
Finmeccanica former Chief Executive and Chairman Giuseppe Orsi, who was arrested for alleged bribes paid to secure the sale of 12 AgustaWestland executive aircraft when he was head of the Finmeccanica helicopter unit, may get bail.

Italian police arrested the head of Italian state-controlled defence group Finmeccanica SpA on Tuesday in a corruption probe centred on the sale of helicopters to the Indian government, a judicial source said.

16:05PM hopes law to deal with crimes against women will be passed: Terming the incidents of violence and sexual offences against women as a "matter of shame", Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh today hoped that Parliament would urgently pass the necessary legislation to enact a comprehensive law in this regard.

"It is indeed a matter of shame that, notwithstanding the gains we have made, incidents of violence and sexual offences against women are on the increase," Dr. Singh said at a function to confer the Indira Gandhi prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development 2011 on social worker Ela Bhatt.

Dr Singh said, the Justice J.S Verma committee have resulted in the promulgation an ordinance, amending and strengthening the criminal law to deal with sexual offences against women.

"It is our hope that Parliament will urgently pass the necessary legislation to enact a comprehensive law in this regard," he added.

16:01National Interest: Our bigger defence scandal: The only positive aspect of the Finmeccanica helicopter deal is that investigating it conclusively may be easier as, unlike Bofors, where holier-than-cow Sweden did nothing and even got a major New Delhi avenue named after Olof Palme, here the supplier country is investigating. ReadShekhar Gupta's piece for the Indian Express.

The violin, if proven authentic, will have incredibly survived the tragedy in which more than 1500 people lost their lives in the Atlantic ocean on April 15, 1912. Extensive scientific tests are underway to prove the violin's authenticity, however, experts believe it to be genuine, the 'Daily Mail' reported.

The violin is expected to fetch hundreds of thousands of pounds on April 20 when it is up for the auction.

According to medical experts the phenomenon, named as 'Flu Monday', is down to us giving up on the annual January detoxification and celebrating Valentine's Day in style, the Sun reported.

The paper quoted Dr Rob Hicks, a GP in London, as asserting that many people start socialising more in February after January, when we socialise less and prefer eating healthy food, giving our bodies a chance to recuperate after the over-indulgence of Christmas.

Upon her arrival, Kumar drove straight to the confluence of three rivers Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati, where the 12-yearly Maha Kumbh congregation is underway, and took a holy dip.

Later while speaking to reporters, Kumar said : "I have offered my prayers for our democracy which is the largest in the world. I have prayed that may democracy's roots in our country grow deeper and deeper".

15:23Toxic Yamuna veggies on your menu?: Fruits and vegetables sold by the wayside along the Yamuna may look fresh, tempting and cheaper - but the truth behind their freshness could make you throw up. For, they are grown on the river bank using water flushed down the toilets. Read more

15:05Brit couple on cycle world tour crushed to death in Thailand: A British couple on a cycle tour across the world has been crushed to death by a pick up truck in Thailand. Peter Root and Mary Thompson, both 34, died when a pickup truck ran over them on a road in Phanom Sarakham district on Friday.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand chief has apologised to the families of the couple killed in Chachoengsao province. The pickup driver told police that his vehicle hit the British cyclists while he was reaching down to pick up a cap on the floor.

He was reportedly released on bail, and will face charges. The couple had started cycling around the world two years ago, and had travelled through Europe, the Middle East, China and 23 other countries without incident before coming to Thailand.

14:43Madani admits hard-line Muslims in Gujarat are warming to Modi : In perhaps the first sign that the hard-line Deoband Islamic seminary Darul Uloom has softened its stand towards Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind general secretary Maulana Mehmood Madani admitted there's a change in Muslim opinion of him. "In Gujarat, Jamiat workers have told me that in several assembly segments, Muslims voted for Modi," he said. Read more

Afzal Guru's family had turned down the Centre's offer to let his wife, son and a few other close relatives offer prayers at his grave inside the Tihar Jail complex in Delhi.

"We have only one demand that the government of India should return us the body," Guru's cousin Mohammad Yaseen had said. He was reacting to the Centre's offer to allow Guru's wife Tabassum, son Galib and a couple of other close family members offer "fathiah namaz"( prayer at the grave) inside Tihar Jail.

13:59Moily rules out roll back in petrol, diesel hike: Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily today ruled out a roll back in the Rs 1.50 a litre hike in petrol and 45 paisa per litre increase in diesel rates saying only a small raise has been passed on to consumers.

"No, No," was he refrain when asked if the government will consider rolling back last week's increase. "Our country imports 73-75 per cent of oil. We need to pay Rs 7 lakh crore for the imports. Where do we find that kind of money," he said. The first hike in petrol price in over three-and-a-half months and the second rise in diesel rates in one month exclude local sales tax or VAT, making the cost for consumers even higher. Petrol price in Delhi went by Rs 1.80 to Rs 69.06 per litre from February 16. Diesel rates went up by 51 paise to Rs 48.16 a litre.

13:57How Afzal Guru affected tourism in Kashmir :
Simmering tensions remain in parts of Kashmir following the relaxation of a week-long curfew over the weekend, with sporadic clashes in Srinagar and in the region's south -- a situation that is already hitting tourism. Read

13:47 This is the PM's speech during the felicitation ceremony of Sewa founder Ela Bhatt. Read

13:43Sewa founder's speech gets lost in Rashtrapati Bhawan: Ela Bhatt, the founder of the Self-Employed Women's Association of India (SEWA), was today awarded the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for her lifetime achievements in empowering women through grassroots entrepreneurship.

The award was handed out at the Durbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, but despite a makeover as recent as December last year, the sound system was defective.

President Pranab Mukherjee, the PM Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi were among those present.

Bhatt's acceptance speech was unclear as the sound echoed across the Hall. And of course, pigeons cooing in the ledges only made it worse.

That's something the President needs to look into since he engineered renovations and refurbishments in the Durbar Hall and the spectacular library as well.

Here's a blog stating why Press Council of India chief Justice Katju is unfit to hold any office. Some of his 'best' statements... Read.

13:0217 years of solitude: The psychological abyss that the Suryanelli rape victim and her family have been living in because she dared name PJ Kurien. Read

12:53 The PM said there is always scope for discussion on issues. " We can always sit down," he said.

12:52PM on chopper deal: Seek, we have nothing to hide: Just in: Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's first comments on the chopper 'scam'. The PM said the government is "ready to discuss the all issues in Parliament. We have nothing to hide," he said.

Last week, the government scrapped the Rs 3,546-crore
deal for 12 VVIP helicopters from Finmeccanica. The government set
the "termination process" in motion on Friday by issuing a formal
show-cause notice to AgustaWestland to explain within a week why the
contract should not be cancelled and penal action initiated against it.

12:45 Just in: Militants storm government building in northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar; explosions and gunfire heard.

12:42BJP: Katju's comments on Modi 'bizarre, unsolicited':
Launching a fresh attack on Press Council of India chairperson Markandey Katju, the BJP today said the former Supreme Court judge was expressing "unsolicited, bizarre" opinions against non-Congress ruled states and demanded that he should step down.

"Mr Katju as Chairperson of the Press Council of India, holds a statutory position, yet he is seemingly floating around the country like a vagabond and giving unsolicited bizarre opinions," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy told reporters.

He alleged that Katju is biased and demanded his resignation. "Katju prefers slurring opposition ruled governments whether it is Mamata Banerjee ruled West Bengal, the JDU-BJP ruled government in Bihar or Narendra Modi government in Gujarat," Rudy said.

12:38The global village that is not: With even progressive leaders talking about protectionism and anti-immigration, and right-wing parties enjoying a revival, the world has actually become more parochial. Also on the Hindu. Read

12:23No, Oprah won't attend the Kumbh mela: In other stories: Oprah Winfrey is used to crowds. Last year, when she made a star appearance at the Jaipur Literature Festival, the event saw record crowds. Police barricaded the road leading to the Diggi Palace hotel, where she was set to speak, while masses of people pressed around sealed entrances to the venue. .Ms. Winfrey seemed used to that kind of attention. But is she so used to crowds that she's willing to take on the Kumbh Mela? Read

12:17 The four convicts - Veerappan's elder brother Gnanaprakash, Simon, Meesekar Madaiah and Bilavendran - have been on death row since 2004, when the Supreme Court sentenced them to death for killing 22 policemen and forest personnel from Tamil Nadu in a landmine blast at Palar, Karnataka. Their mercy petitions were rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday. The four convicts are lodged in a jail in Belgaum, Karnataka.

12:02SC stays execution of four Veerappan aides till Wednesday: The Supreme Court today stayed the execution of four aides of Sandalwood
bandit Veerappan till Wednesday. The four men were sentenced to death
for killing 22 policemen and others in a landmine blast in Karnataka in
Palar. President Pranab Mukherjee rejected their mercy petitions last
week. In Tamil Nadu, Veerappan's wife V Muthulakshmi plans to protest
against the death sentence by blocking a road in Erode district. More

11:57Uninor shuts shop, 18 lakh Mumbai users stranded: Andheri resident Neeraj Khambalkar and friends spent most of Sunday trying to get a cell phone connection, after wireless carrier Uninor abruptly pulled the plug on its services in the Mumbai Circle from Saturday midnight.

Khambalkar and his friends, who had to give up their plans for a Sunday outing, were among the thousands of Mumbaikars trying frantically to secure new mobile connections from other operators. Read

11:39This gag order is no faking news: The blocking of websites on a court order granting relief to Arindam Chaudhuri without hearing the defendants shows it's child's play to blanket out views with which you disagree. Read

"I appeal to the central trade unions to withdraw their call for countrywide general strike on February 20 and 21. Such a strike would lead to avoidable loss to our economy and inconvenience to the public through disruption of services," Dr. Singh said in his message.

Dr. Singh also pointed out that some of the issues raised by the trade unions are already being acted upon and others are at various stages of consideration.

11:28Before flight, pasta is cold: If Arun Kumar Bal, the officer designated by defence minister A.K. Antony to co-ordinate New Delhi's follow-up to bribery allegations in the VVIP helicopter deal, loses his way in Rome this week, he is unlikely to get much help from the Indian embassy there.

Worse, Bal and the inter-agency team accompanying him to ferret out information from the Italians on allegations that have created waves in the global armaments market cannot expect any wisdom from the most obvious fountainhead in their task: the Indian ambassador in Rome.

11:19How AgustaWestland 'bought back' 19 derelict Indian choppers: Update on the AgustaWestland chopper deal. NDTV reports: If you thought the Rs. 4000-crore scam for VVIP choppers was astounding, you may find incredulous the methods that defence firm Finmeccanica and middlemen employed to get the Indian contract. Read

11:14Pune role in vigil for meteorites: As we know, at least a 1000 people were injured in Siberia in the meteor shower. Now, here's the Pune connect to the meteor showers: A bank of computers in Pune will soon host and serve images of the night sky and help astronomers search for undiscovered giant space rocks like the meteorite that shook Russia last week, or even bigger ones that could threaten Earth. Read

11:05 British Prime Minister David Cameron arrived in Mumbai on Monday morning on a three-day India visit during which will he meet captains of industry and hold talks with top leaders, who are likely to seek more information on the VVIP helicopters scam involving an Anglo-Italian firm. Cameron landed in Mumbai around 8.30 am and was received at the airport by Minister of Protocol Suresh Shetty and senior Maharashtra government officials.

Read the blog on the visit: David Cameron taking India for a 'free ride'

11:00The Hindu Literary Prize goes to Jerry Pinto: Journalist-author Jerry Pinto has bagged The Hindu Literary Prize 2012 for his novel Em and the Big Hoom. The book, published by Aleph Book Co, is Mr. Pinto's first work of fiction and is set in Mahim, Mumbai. It revolves around how a four-member family copes with the mother's manic depressive condition and her suicidal ideation. Read

10:54Cong MP says Suryanelli victim was a prostitute: Adding to the humiliation the victim of the Suryanelli rape case has been suffering for the past 17 years, Congress MP from Kerala K Sudhakaran has said she had moved around "as a prostitute, making money and accepting gift".

Sudhakaran's comments have raised protest from the Congress and the CPM, while Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and party state president Ramesh Chennithala have refused to comment. Read

10:46In jail, Guru exhorted IM men to stage attacks across India:
Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, who was hanged recently, may have painted a picture of himself as a man far removed from fundamentalism while talking to jail officials but in his conversations with Indian Mujahideen accused, he rooted for jihad and fidayeen attacks across the country.

According to reports, Guru had told jail officials in Tihar that he was not in favour of Kashmir's secession from India and actually wanted to rid the country of corruption. However, interrogation of an Indian Mujahideen accused lodged in Tihar has revealed that with him, Guru argued exactly the opposite. More on the Times of India.

Also read: Afzal Gurus last letter to his family was less than 80 words long.

10:23British PM begins 3-day India visit from Mumbai: British Prime Minister David Cameron arrived in Mumbai on Monday morning on a three-day India visit during which will he meet captains of industry and hold talks with top leaders, who are likely to seek more information on the VVIP helicopters scam involving an Anglo-Italian firm.

Cameron landed in Mumbai around 8.30 am and was received at the airport by Minister of Protocol Suresh Shetty and senior Maharashtra government officials. He is accompanied by a large delegation which includes CEO of top British corporates, Vice-Chancellors of reputed universities and senior government officials, among others.

10:02Copter scam: CBI, govt team to reach Italy tomorrow: A CBI team along with a top defence ministry official, will leave for
Milan today in an attempt to unearth the money trail in the VVIP chopper scam. The three-member team
will arrive in Italy on Tuesday.

The team will be led by a senior defence ministry official and will also comprise of a DIG of the CBI besides a law officer.

Official
sources told NDTV that d the departure of the team was delayed by a day due to some
last-minute formalities which required to be fulfilled before traveling
abroad for the purpose of investigation.

The
four convicts -- Gnanaprakash, Simon, Meesekar Madaiah and Bilavendran --
have been on death row since 2004, when the Supreme Court sentenced
them to death for killing 22 policemen and forest personnel from Tamil
Nadu in a landmine blast at Palar, Karnataka.

Their mercy petitions were rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday.

09:01Freak rains kill 22 in Andhra Pradesh:
The death toll in freak rains has risen to 22, even as fresh areas reeled under its impact on Sunday, this time in coastal Andhra, reports The Hindu.

Most of the 12 deaths were reported from Prakasam, Nellore, Krishna and Chittoor districts either due to lightning or electrical short-circuit. Three persons were injured in house-collapses, two of them in Adilabad and one in Nizamabad.